Professor Maguire has led research projects addressing several topics, including strategic innovation in policing (including community policing), police strategies to control violent crime, criminal investigations, and sex trafficking in minors. He is also invited regularly to work on projects led by others. Below are details about several of the studies that Professor Maguire has led or worked on over the past 20 years.

This project involves two phases: (1) a self-funded survey of Occupy protesters that took place from February to June of 2012, and (2) a study funded by the COPS Office that will examine the police response to the Occupy movement in eight American cities.

Professor Maguire and his colleagues recently completed a national study on how American police agencies use automated ballistic imaging methods to investigate gun-related crime. The study was led by Professor Bill King at Sam Houston State University's College of Criminal Justice in Huntsville, Texas.